Canavese

Styles

Principal grape varieties

Terroir

• The vineyards of Canavese are arranged on the south-facing slopes of a glacial moraine amphitheatre located in northern Piedmont, on the border with the Val d'Aosta and parts of the provinces of Biella and Vercelli.
• The moraine amphitheatre of Canavese dates to the Quaternary period and was formed by the transport of sediments toward the Po Plain by the glacier that moved through the Dora Baltea valley and covered the Gran Paradiso and Monte Rosa massifs.
• The hill ridges that delimit the amphitheatre consist of the Serra d'Ivrea to the north-east, with an average elevation of 600 metres, and the Agliè–Caluso hill to the south-west, with ridges at 300 metres.
• The microclimate is mild, sheltered by the hills and balanced by the presence of two important rivers, the Dora Baltea and the Orco, and by numerous lakes scattered across the flat areas.

• Erbaluce is traditionally trained on a pergola, known locally as the 'topia canavesana', a complex vine-training system that offers no prospect of mechanisation for either pruning or harvesting.
• The planted vineyard area of Canavese, which once reached approximately 12,000 hectares, shrank with industrialisation to a post-war low, a period associated with the growth of the Olivetti industrial enterprise.

• Canavese rosso, produced from at least 60% of Nebbiolo, Barbera, Bonarda, Freisa, Neretto, and Uva rara, displays a ruby-red colour, is particularly vinous and savoury, dry, and of good acidity.
• Canavese Nebbiolo ranges in colour from ruby to garnet, shows good body, and is well suited to ageing, while Canavese Barbera is deep ruby in colour, lightly fruity, and of good body.
• Canavese bianco, produced from 100% Erbaluce grapes grown on the pergola, is straw-yellow in colour, with a fruity nose, excellent structure, and good acidity.

• The character of Canavese wines is influenced by the mild temperatures, the constant ventilation from the nearby Aosta Valley Alps, and the marked diurnal temperature variation — particularly in the pre-harvest period — and across all wine types a notably high acidity and savouriness and a low polyphenol content are found.

Facts drawn from the specification's terroir-link section by automatic interpretation — see the source.

All appellations in Italy

Sources

• eAmbrosia register (EU) — File number PDO-IT-A1083
• Official trade body site — Consorzio Tutela Vini DOC Caluso, Carema e Canavese